Alphas Unwrapped: 21 New Steamy Paranormal Tales of Shifters, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, Witches, Angels, Demons, Fey, and More

by Michele Bardsley

  Tomas’ eyebrows raised so high she could barely see them underneath his bangs. “How did he know?”

  “There’s not much that gets by me, young man.” Asher chuckled as they made their way to the grotto.

  Crossing the threshold, Holly quickly introduced Tomas to all in attendance before walking over to Eve. She knelt by the little one’s head and looked to her Commander and sisters. One by one they also knelt, some had to sit behind others because Eve was so tiny in stature. When all were kneeling, they placed their right hand upon Eve and Asher began to pray. Holly and her sisters soon joined in.

  Dear Lord of All, Sweet Mother of Nature, Goddess of the Universe and all the Heavenly Hosts, bring health and vitality to our dear little one. Make her whole once again. Give her tiny body the strength it needs. Shine your healing light into her beautiful soul so that she may become what you intended. She has made her choice. She is a child of the light. May her Light shine bright. May her Light shine eternally.

  In the name of He who makes all things possible, our Heavenly Lord, we humbly ask for your help and guidance.

  Although the prayer ended, the grotto remained utterly silent. Each person continued to pray in their own words and pour all the love, light, and positive energy into little Eve they could. Hours passed and no one moved. Holly began to believe Eve would never wake. Her faith was waning, something that had never happened before.

  Once again, guilt filled the Christmas Angel, so much so that she tried to pull her hand from Tomas’, but her dragon was quicker than she’d ever imagined. Within the blink of an eye, he had her in his lap and was holding their clasped hands over Eve’s heart. “No backing out now, mo ghra’.”

  “But Tomas…”

  “But nothing, Holly. When you feel like you can’t go on, you’ve got me. You’ve always got me. That’s what I’m here for. Lean on me, a chumann, I’ve got you.”

  There were no words for what Tomas had come to mean to her. How could she ever have doubted he was her mate? She didn’t know what Asher or her sisters would think of a dragon in the family, but Holly really didn’t care. She loved him and he loved her, and together they could do anything. That was all that mattered.

  “I love you, Tomas…”

  She wanted to say more but at that very moment, Eve decided to open her eyes and smile. It was a miracle, a real Christmas miracle, just like the man at her side. Tears flowed freely from all the Winters sisters, while Asher checked Eve from head to toe, inside and out, and even made sure she could speak before announcing she was an angel, a very special angel. The first of her kind in nearly a millennium.

  “Because your little Eve has chosen the Light, she has become the rarest of all angels, a Spirit Angel. What that means is that she will go through her formative years transforming from one type of angel to another until she finds the one she was meant to be. She holds within her the most ancient of all angel magic. That is why she was able to abolish the demon and his followers. We are blessed she chose the Light. We have you and your mate to thank for that.”

  Holly spit and sputtered, nearly choking on the cocoa they’d made while waiting for the results of Asher’s examination. She looked at her smiling Commander, who simply asked, “Dear Holly, what do you think your final mission was?”

  “Ummm, I have no clue. I’m waiting for my orders.”

  Shaking his head and chuckling, Asher continued, “Eve was your ultimate mission, but first you had to believe in the impossible. You had to know beyond any doubt that this dragon, this man, the one that gave up his throne to fight evil and protect all that is good in the world, was your mate. In essence, my little warrior, you were the most vital piece of your own final mission, and I am happy to say that you passed with flying colors.”

  Holly looked into the faces of each of her eleven sisters as they smiled and nodded. Her heart filled to bursting with more love than she’d ever known. Looking up at Tomas, she found herself looking into the deep brown eyes of her mate, the one person in all the Universe she could always count on no matter what.

  His lips touched hers and the grotto erupted in applause. Too soon, Tomas was pulling back, but not before assuring her they would most definitely continue what he’d started when they had less company.

  Turning back to her family, Holly felt Eve’s tiny hand slide into hers. Looking down at the Spirit Angel, the Christmas Angel realized the little one’s features were already changing. She was a few inches taller than she’d originally been which made her head look more in proportion, her potbelly was considerably smaller, and her eyes had taken on an almond shape. Her hair was growing, turning from the little sprouts to deep auburn curls covering her scalp.

  “Thank you, Holly.” Her little sweet voice sang.

  “You are so welcome, Eve, so very welcome.”

  “So tell me, Tomas Youngblood, how do you feel about a trip to Heaven? I believe we have a mating ceremony to complete,” Asher said with all the command of the Leader of the Christmas Angels.

  Holly’s dragon grinned from ear to ear. “I feel really great about that, sir. Some might even say fabulous!”

  I am the luckiest angel in the world.

  Chapter Seven

  Having lived his life as a dragon shifter, Tomas was pretty sure there wasn’t much he hadn’t seen, but in the case of Heaven…he couldn’t have been more wrong. It was nothing like the stories from his childhood had described. To start, there were no tiny little pink-faced, chubby cherubs floating around playing harps. The angels didn’t lie around staring at the humans like they were watching a sitcom, nor was the floor made of clouds. Heaven was, however, the absolute cleanest place the Guardsman had ever seen, and everyone smiled and waved whether they knew you or not. It was happiness personified.

  It seemed that every inhabitant of Heaven had heard the story of the angel and the dragon and wanted to congratulate the happy couple, although Tomas suspected they wanted to get a look at a dragon shifter up close. Asher had explained that it would take several hours to prepare for the Ceremony of Holy Matrimony, and that it was something he, as an Elder, and Holly’s sisters would prepare for the couple. When Tomas had explained that in his culture the men prepare the mating ceremony for the female, the Elder Angel only smiled and nodded.

  He’d given Tomas special permission to contact his brethren, something he’d just finally found a moment to do.

  “Hey, butthead, what’s up?” Tomas laughed at Jace’s response.

  “And good morning to you, too.”

  “Ha Ha,” Tomas noted the sarcasm and an abundance of frustration in his best friend’s voice and was glad they were speaking on their own unique link so no one else could hear. “Sorry for my mood,” Jace went on. “It’s been crazy around here. After we were sure y’all were okay—great job by the way and you mate kicks serious ass—I thought we might get a moment’s rest. HA! Fat Chance! Mel and I were planning to eat pizza and watch a movie when Rory put out the all call. Rian had gone missing and we still don’t where the dumbass is. Royce is about to tear the countryside down and Rory just keeps overcompensating with his special brand of stupid humor.”

  “Missing? What the hell?”

  “Yeah, exactly my sentiments. He’d been distracted for the last couple of days, but I just figured it was the same shit different day. Apparently, I was wrong. But enough of that crap, you’ll have to deal with it soon enough. What’s up with you and your angel?”

  Tomas had to smile…him and his angel indeed… “Everything is perfect, just perfect, and you’ll never guess where I am.”

  “You sound like a man in love, my friend.” Jace chuckled. “And I don’t have the brain power left to guess, so how ‘bout you just tell me where you are.”

  “Heaven, I’m in Heaven and I don’t mean theoretically or because Holly is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m not even singing that stupid old song. I mean I’m in honest to goodness Heaven.”

  “Holy crap, dude. That’s aweso
me. You meeting the fam and all that good stuff.”

  “You know it. Holly’s parents have passed but she’s got eleven sisters.”

  “Eleven?! Wow! Big family!”

  “Yeah, and I met her Commander. He reminds me a lot of Rayne.”

  “Hard ass seems to be a prerequisite for the gig.” The guys laughed together before Tomas continued.

  “You know it. He brought us straight up here so we could complete the Ceremony of Holy Matrimony. The way Holly explained it, it’s just like our official mating ceremony but the family and the angel’s commander do all the planning.”

  “That’s cool but you know Carrick and Rayne are gonna demand you have our mating ceremony, too.”

  “I plan to. Gonna surprise Holly with it as soon as we get home. We talked about it and she’s cool with living at the lair. As soon as we’re done here, we’ll be heading home.”

  “Awesome. I’m seriously happy for you.” Jace paused. “Sorry but I gotta cut this short. The old man just put out the all call. Second time in less than twenty-four hours, woo-fricking-hoo. Sounds like we’re hunting a dragon today.” Jace sounded less than thrilled.

  “Don’t kick his ass too hard, he is still the leader of the Blue Thunder Clan.”

  “It’s not me ol’ Ri has to worry about. It’s his brothers. I haven’t seen Royce this mad since…” Jace paused. “Well, to be honest, I’ve never seen Royce this pissed.”

  “Good luck with that. Stay outta the line of fire.” Tomas chuckled. “See ya in a few days.”

  “Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “And that leaves the door wide open.” Tomas disconnected to the sound of his friend’s laughter, just seconds before Holly walked into the room.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, quickly shoving a large white shopping bag into her closet.

  “Perfect,” he answered, making his way towards his beautiful mate, who he immediately scooped up and kissed until they were both bleary eyed and breathless.

  Giggling like a schoolgirl, Holly squirmed out of his arms. “Keep this up and we’ll never get to the Chapel on time.”

  He watched as she headed to the bathroom and began messing with her hair. “We wouldn’t want to be late for our own party, now would we?”

  “Definitely not. Especially with Asher and my sisters running the show. Talk about never hearing the end of it.” She winked then feigned annoyance and tried to be tough. “Now, get in the other room and get dressed.”

  Sneaking up behind his mate, Tomas kissed the column of her delectable neck while whispering seductively directly into her mind. “Why don’t you come help me?”

  Once again, Holly giggled, and he was reminded of the sound the tiny bells that Emma, the jeweler from his clan, made. When she answered, he was pleased to find her breathless. “Because if I help you there be a whole lot of undressing and absolutely no dressing. I know you, dragon man.”

  Pretending to pout, Tomas looked over Holly’s shoulder and into the mirror. Their eyes locked as he teased, “You know it, angel girl.”

  Turning in his arms, Holly put her palms on Tomas’ chest and lightly pushed. “Now, get outta here. I need to get ready.”

  Sighing deeply while acting incredibly put out, Tomas hung his head and turned to leave. “Okay, I’ll go.”

  Holly laughed aloud. “And stop being a big baby.” She touched her index finger to her temple. “We’re linked, remember? I know what you’re thinking.”

  Laughing along, Tomas continued towards the door, calling over his shoulder, “Ain’t it great!”

  Her laughter was all he heard as he walked into the hall and shut the door behind him. He was almost to the room Holly’s sisters had given him to use while he was there when he remembered the shopping bag his mate had tried to hide from him. He thought about going back and giving her a hard time about it since she was also blocking it in her mind, but he had no idea what the bag contained and immediately thought better of it. He’d heard stories about other cultures’ mating rituals and knew there were stigmas about the men seeing the woman’s dress before the ceremony. Figuring it fell into that category, he decided it wasn’t something he needed to mess with.

  No tempting Fate when I’m about to mate the angel of my dreams.

  Opening the closet in his room, he found the garment bag Asher had delivered earlier. The Elder Angel instructed Tomas not to open the bag until right before the ceremony and then to follow the instructions within to the letter. The Guardsman wasn’t sure what he was about to find, but it was time to take the first step towards making Holly officially his forever.

  He unzipped the garment bag, carefully pulling the white silk shirt and pants out and laying them on the bed. They reminded him more of the pajamas he’d seen Rock Hudson wear in the old movies with Doris Day, but decided to go with the flow. Every culture had their traditions and who was he to question the angels’? If this was what it took to mate the woman of his dreams then he was damn sure gonna do it.

  Tomas broke the wax seal on the back of the linen envelope embossed with his name. The words were written in gold lettering and seemed to hover above the page.

  Today you wed your mate. The woman the Father Himself designed just for you. You must look inside your heart and answer the questions listed below. Once completed, begin dressing in your matrimonial attire. If you have answered the questions to the Heavenly Hosts’ satisfaction, you will find yourself transported to the Chapel. If you have not, you will find yourself back on Earth without your mate.

  Godspeed, Tomas Youngblood. We look forward to welcoming you into our family.

  Commander Asher Kalani

  Standing stock still, Tomas let his eyes slowing scan down the page. One deep breath later, he read:

  Would you give your life for your mate or her cause without thought or provocation?

  The answer was simple and one he didn’t even have to think about.

  Absolutely! Holly is my everything.

  Will you protect Angel kin with your head, your heart, your blade, and your blood?”

  A total no-brainer.

  Without thought. Holly’s people are my people. I will defend them to the end.

  Tomas laid the letter on the bed and quickly dressed. He said a silent prayer to anyone who was listening as he buttoned the last button.

  Chapel, please. I can’t live without her.

  The button slid through its loop and the world around Tomas became a swirl of light and color. He felt weightless, which at first was very disconcerting, but only lasted a few seconds. A bright flash of light momentarily blinded him. He was airborne then almost instantaneously his bare feet touched cool ceramic tile. His vision cleared. He almost jumped for joy when he saw Holly’s sisters and Asher standing at the head of what he just knew was their Chapel.

  Each sister was beaming with excitement while the Elder Angel looked like a proud father. Eve was standing to Asher’s right, smiling from ear to ear. She’d grown even taller since Tomas had last seen her, her features continuing to transform into those of a beautiful little girl. The Guardsman immediately looked for Holly but found her missing. Always one step ahead, the Elder Angel answered Tomas’ unasked question. “She is just beyond that door.”

  Tomas followed where the angel pointed with a sigh of relief. He knew he would wither and die if Holly had changed her mind.

  A feminine chuckle floated through his mind followed by, “You’re not getting off that easy, dragon.”

  His only answer was a satisfied chuckle as the door he still stared at opened and out came the most beautiful woman in all the Universe…his Holly. Most of her hair was piled atop her head, held with a strand of golden ribbon. Red ringlets framed her face and neck, highlighting her long dark lashes, the slight blush of her checks, and the deep red of her lips.

  Her dress was simple in design but an absolutely flawless fit. The white strapless bodice left her lightly freckled shoulders and décolletage bare. Its snu
g fit accentuated her breasts and many curves, making rational thought difficult.

  Holly’s golden belt was wrapped around her waist, making the skirt of her dress flare at her well-rounded hips before flowing effortlessly to the floor. Her toenails were painted a deep red that matched her lips and wiggled when he looked at them.

  Walking towards Asher, but never breaking eye contact with Tomas, Holly looked like a queen, his queen…forever. The Elder Angel’s deep, rich voice filled the Chapel, “Tomas Alistair Youngblood, please come forward and join your mate at the Lord’s Table.”

  Using his enhanced speed, Tomas was at the table holding his mate’s hand in a split second. Holly’s sisters chuckled and his angel’s shoulders bounced as she tried to hide her laughter. Asher’s voice once again rang out, filling the air with a sense of reverence.

  “The Heavenly Hosts are older than time and have always occupied the seat at the right hand of God. We are tasked with protecting the innocent and preserving the Light. Those of us who have given our lives to the service of our Lord are rewarded with the greatest of all gifts, a mate. The one person in all the Universe created by our Heavenly Father especially for that specific angel. The angel’s one perfect match that will be by her side for all time.

  “Today we honor what God began so very many years ago with the union of Holly Joy Winters to Tomas Alistair Youngblood. What has never happened in my very long lifetime is happening now. We are welcoming another into our flock. This dragon shifter is of royal blood, but instead of a throne, he carries a sword. Instead of proclaiming laws, he upholds them and protects the innocent. He is a true soldier of Truth and Light. A perfect match for our sister, Holly. A warrior with a pure heart and soul. It is my honor to give my blessing to this union.

  “Holly Joy Winters, do you accept this man, this dragon, this warrior of the Light, as your own? Do you take him into your heart and soul, promising to protect all that he is and his way of life for all time?”